Jabulani Mayaba, a family member of the late Alexandra Taxi Association chairperson Vusi Mayaba, said the deceased knew people were gunning for him on the day he was brutally killed.

Jabulani said that although the slain chair had received an intelligence warning to stay indoors because there were people after him, he decided to go out. He suggested that he even dodged his security detail.

“When you follow the events that led to the day when Vusi was brutally murdered, you get a sense that Vusi had seen his fate, and that he had spoken to God that it was well with his soul. You would get a sense that he was the one who had decided to go to them,” he said.

Read more: Alexandra Taxi Association chairperson Vusi Mayaba shot dead in Woodmead

Mayaba was gunned down by two men using automatic rifles in Woodmead, Sandton, on December 4. The police suspect his murder is linked to ongoing taxi-related tensions in Alexandra.

Speaking during the late chair’s memorial service in Sandton on Wednesday, Jabulani recalled just how painful it was seeing Mayaba’s lifeless body, murdered by a gun. He urged the police to crack the case, saying it was easy to solve.

He cited footage of the suspects’ vehicle and visible number plates. He said if the family did not respect the law, they would have gone after the suspects themselves.

“We do not want to take that route; we want to respect the law. But it pains us as a family if the videos are all over social media, but you [police] cannot find the suspects.”

He added that the family is not interested in the men who carried out the hit, but in the mastermind behind it.

Also read: Armsta chairperson’s death sparks call for task team to probe taxi violence

ATA veteran and former chairperson Veli Thambe, who served for two decades, said that despite having dealt with industry‑related conflicts during his tenure, a new trend has now emerged: when one eyes the chairperson position, they feel compelled to kill the sitting chairperson.

“It is a painful thing I have seen happening. We are pushing each other out of the chairperson position by killing each other.”

Mayaba, like the late chair of Alexandra Randburg Midrand Sandton Taxi Association (Armsta), Molefe Moekeletsi, was described as a visionary who had the interests of his workers at heart.

Andrew Lee, who has worked closely with the associations for over 15 years, described Mayaba as a giant and a visionary who did justice to the position that he occupied. “It is rather unfortunate that his life was taken away, because truly, he was a pioneer, ushering in new change.”

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